XIII/22

传播战略框架

Date: 04-12-2016
Treaty
Convention on Biological Diversity
会议
Thirteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity
Type
Decision
Status
Active

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Conventions, Implementation, Global strategies, Sustainable development

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The Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity,
Recalling United Nations General Assembly resolution 65/161, in which the Assembly declared 2011-2020 the United Nations Decade on Biodiversity,
Recalling decision XI/2 and its support for the strategy for the United Nations Decade on Biodiversity as reviewed by the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Review of Implementation of the Convention at its fourth meeting,
Recalling the programme of work for communication, education and public awareness,
Noting resolution 93 of the IUCN World Conservation Congress of 2016, “Connecting people with nature globally”, and its call to support Aichi Biodiversity Target 1, including through the #NatureForAll campaign,
1.Welcomes the framework for a global communications strategy developed by the Executive Secretary,1 contained in the annex to the present decision;1UNEP/CBD/COP/13/14.
2.Invites Parties to use the framework as they seek to develop their own national strategies and report on the results of their work through the clearing-house mechanism;
3.Invites United Nations agencies and multilateral funds, including those mentioned in the annex to the present decision to also use the framework as they seek to develop their own strategies;
4.Requests the Executive Secretary to continue to work to further implement and support for the implementation of the framework, including by working with existing partners to the United Nations Decade on Biodiversity, including the office of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, and through the development of new partnerships, subject to the availability of funds, and to report on the results to the Conference of the Parties at its next meeting;
5.Also requests the Executive Secretary, urges Parties, and invites other Governments and relevant organizations to promote synergies, in accordance with Conference of the Parties decision XIII/24 on cooperation with other conventions and international organizations, when facilitating and implementing communication activities, including activities foreseen in the web strategy.
AnnexFramework for a communications strategy
A. - Scope and purpose
1.The Strategy below is intended to be used as a flexible framework to guide the actions and activities of the Executive Secretary, Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity and other partners, stakeholders and actors who are involved in the United Nations Decade on Biodiversity. Its findings and conclusions should serve as a guide for the further development and articulation of specific strategies and action plans to be developed by the Executive Secretary, Parties, stakeholders and others. It should also be kept under review.
2.The purpose of the communication framework under the Convention on Biological Diversity is to guide the Secretariat, Parties other Governments and relevant organizations in developing effective communications strategies that are targeted to specific global, regional and national stakeholders with a view to advancing the three objectives of the Convention, its programmes, initiatives and Protocols.
B. - Goals
3.Communications efforts need to support the implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity, its Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and its 2050 vision in a sustained manner. These efforts should be designed to have an impact not only on the remaining years of the United Nations Decade on Biodiversity 2011-2020, but also on the subsequent decades leading up to 2050. Within this context, the following are the main goals:
Communicate the status of implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and its 2050 Vision
4.Communications efforts need to show the state of implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and its Aichi Biodiversity Targets. Communications should clearly indicate where progress is being made, at the national and global levels, as well as cases where additional action is needed. These communications should also show how implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 is contributing to achievement of other biodiversity-relevant goals for the biodiversity-related conventions.
5.The goal is to provide an accurate picture of implementation that also provides inspiration for further action with the broader goal of inspiring sustained action towards 2050. While communications efforts during the last four years of the United Nations Decade on Biodiversity are focused on achievement of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020, it is important to generate support for achievement of the vision of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity that extends to 2050.
Urge additional actions where they are needed
6.Related to the first goal, communications need to promote support for additional actions in those goals and targets of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity where Parties do not seem to be on track to achievement. These communications should be of a nature that promotes action. This can take the form of supporting efforts in a positive way, as well as offering cautions as to the negative consequences of failure to achieve the targets.
7.Parties will have a particular goal in this regard, which is to show how they will achieve the Aichi Biodiversity Targets at the national level. Other stakeholders will need to communicate how their actions support additional actions.
Demonstrate, for multiple audiences, the relevance of biodiversity and the work of the Convention for sustainable development and other global priorities
8.The three objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity are clearly linked to other international objectives for sustainable development. In demonstrating the relevance of biodiversity for these different issues, the emphasis should begin with an analysis of the core concerns for each area, with biodiversity then introduced in terms of its contribution to resolving the challenges.
9.The Climate Change agenda is of particular importance in this regard. Efforts need to be made to show the interlinkages between biodiversity and climate change. This includes the impacts of climate change on biodiversity, both at a global level and in particular instances. Likewise, it is important to highlight the contribution of biodiversity to climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts, including ecosystem-based adaptation and ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction.
10.In this way, efforts are needed to show how the work under the Convention contributes to work under the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). Messages of the CBD need to link with the agenda and messaging for land degradation neutrality of the UNCCD.
11.Other issue areas also represent opportunities where the contribution of biodiversity to achieving outcomes for discrete challenges is also obvious. Food and water security, and the public health agenda are strategic connections.
12.Messages also need to reach out to some actors who are, on the surface, very removed from the objectives of the CBD, but whose actions, in fact have an impact on the work of the Convention. Ministries of Transport, Energy, Finance and infrastructure are examples of the communities that should be targets for engagement. In engaging these communities, the emphasis should be on the core issues that are of concern for these sectors, and the ways that biodiversity addresses these.
13.The business community is an extremely important audience for new communications. As important users of biodiversity and its ecosystem services, their ability to move to sustainable consumption will be crucial for achievement of the goals of the CBD. The linkage of biodiversity conservation and sustainable use to corporate social responsibility is important. More important is to communicate the business case for biodiversity conservation. The role of business as users of genetic resources in the context of the Nagoya Protocol on access and benefit-sharing is also an important element.
14.Youth is also an important group. Insofar as there is a global youth culture, or regional variations of such a culture, reaching out to this group will be important for actions in the decades to come.
Provide tools for capacity-development
15.Realising the goals of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity will require additional capacity for many Parties to the Convention. In many instances, this requires capacity development. Parties have frequently indicated the importance of capacity-development as an activity that the Secretariat, as well as other actors, should carry out to ensure achievement of the Aichi biodiversity Targets. Therefore, an important communication goal will be disseminating these tools to actors as well as ensuring their full development. The linkage of these tools to other capacity-development initiatives, as well as the linkage to the Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) agenda, is also important.
C. - Core messaging: Structure and elements of core messages
General approach to messaging
16.Given the reality that the audience for all messaging relating to the United Nations Decade on Biodiversity is both global in scope and also very specific in its application, the best message structure is one that has an overall umbrella set of messages under which individual and specific messages can be developed and transmitted. This was the overall strategy for the International Year of Biodiversity in 2010, which developed a core message and provided it as a template for others to adapt to their needs.
17.Messages generated for the United Nations Decade on Biodiversity need to be consistent with core documents from the CBD process. This includes the messaging of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 as set out in the annex to decision X/2, in particular the goals, the mission and the vision; the conclusions of Global Biodiversity Outlook, in particular its fourth edition; and also the messages contained on the web portals for the United Nations Decade on Biodiversity.
18.Messaging needs to be evidence-based and scientifically credible, even as it should seek to inspire. An important basis for the relationship of different elements of the messages can be found in the conceptual framework for the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (decision IPBES-2/4). In addition to this, messages should be based upon the conclusions of other publications. Global Biodiversity Outlook should remain a primary source; however, other publications that have been vetted by the Secretariat and the Conference of the Parties can also be included.
19.The overarching messages for the medium term (between now and 2020) will be a mixture of positive and negative messages, depending on the policy goals to be achieved. Positive messaging needs to take on both utilitarian and “wonder” elements. One dimension of positive messaging is to highlight the role of biodiversity, or nature, as a solution to the sustainable development challenges before humanity. In this way, messaging needs to move beyond the notion that biodiversity is a victim of development, with a focus on biodiversity loss. Another dimension of the positive messages is to promote the wonder of nature – both in the charisma of species and ecosystems, as well as the complexity and inspiration that biodiversity represents.
20.As outlined above, the goal of the communications strategy is both to celebrate successes in implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and to encourage additional actions where they are needed. As will be discussed below, the notion of context will be important for the design of messages for different audiences.
21.Positive messages will highlight the extent to which progress has been made to achieve the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity. Further, successes need to also emphasize the benefits realized as a result of the achievement. The benefits should be expressed in terms of the contribution of achievement to human well-being, to achievement of the sustainable development goals and others. In emphasizing their successes, national governments may wish to link these successes with national strategies for sustainable development.
22.Negative messages should be used carefully, but there may be moments when it is important to outline the consequences of failing to achieve the Aichi Biodiversity Targets. The negative should be expressed in terms of lost opportunities for human well-being that will result from failure to act, or in terms of the higher costs needed to recover and restore ecosystem services as a result of inaction.
23.The umbrella messages are meant to provide a framework under which Parties and other actors can create messages which highlight their own specific achievements.
Branding
24.An important aspect of messaging is branding. Consistent, well-designed and attractive branding can significantly increase the impact of core messaging. This was clearly demonstrated for the United Nations Decade on Biodiversity thanks to an attractive logo with a palette of biodiversity-related visual elements. In the broader context of the Convention and its Protocols, the CBD logo and its guidelines currently constitute the core of the CBD branding policy. Work has been ongoing on the extension of this core branding to a fully fledged branding policy to be consistently applied for all messaging and communications channels. An overview of CBD core branding elements is presented in an information document.
Elements for messaging
25.Overall, messages should communicate general elements about the connections of people to biodiversity:
(a)The messages should build the perception that people are connected to biodiversity in almost all aspects of their lives;
(b)Communications should raise awareness of both the threats of biodiversity loss and the benefits of safeguarding it;
(c)Messages should promote a sense of urgency for action to halt the loss of biodiversity, and encourage people to act now.
26.The messages should also highlight the vision of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 in the context of a longer time horizon:
(a)While the time for action is now, the most important horizon for action is for the middle of this century;
(b)By the middle of the twenty-first century, humanity should value, conserve, restore and wisely use biodiversity in a way that maintains ecosystem services;
(c)Actions should seek to sustain a healthy planet and deliver essential benefits for all people.
27.Messages should also link the goals of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 with specific national development priorities, demonstrating how achieving sustainable development at the national level requires integration of biodiversity into these activities.
28.Messages should clearly show the linkages between biodiversity and other sustainable development issues, with a focus on the Sustainable Development Goals:
(a)The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, agreed by the 193 States Members of the United Nations, sets out an ambitious framework of universal goals and targets to address a range of global societal challenges;
(b)Biodiversity, environmental functions and ecosystem services contribute directly to human well-being and development priorities. Nearly half of the world’s population is directly dependent on natural resources for their livelihoods. Many of the most vulnerable people depend directly on biodiversity to fulfil their daily subsistence needs;
(c)Biodiversity is also at the centre of many economic activities, including those related to agriculture, forestry, fisheries and tourism. The importance of biodiversity and ecosystems is reflected in many of the Sustainable Development Goals and targets;
(d)Therefore, consideration of biodiversity and ecosystems will be essential as countries embark on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals, and in the implementation of key national priorities for sustainable development.
29.Messages should urge target audiences to take action. It is important in this urging that the messages provide a list of specific actions that the target group can take to safeguard biodiversity and that there is guidance provided on how to take action.
30.Specific messages and campaigns should be sensitive to the values of the target audience and should express biodiversity and actions to conserve and sustainably use it in the context of these values. Therefore, audience research is a key element to any message customization.
D. - Audiences
31.Given the global audience for the Convention, it is important to identify audience segments and to link communications with each of these to the different goals of the strategy and design messages accordingly. For the audience groups below, it is important to note that they will be both audiences receiving messages and groups that transform and/or transmit messages to other subsidiary target groups.
Parties to the CBD and its Protocols
32.The Convention on Biological Biodiversity is implemented at the national level by national governments, and therefore a primary key audience for communications by the Secretariat and other international level actors are the Parties. The focal points to the Convention and its Protocols are the main audience here. At the level of the Parties themselves, national focal points to the Convention and its Protocols are not only an audience, but they too need to reach out to ministries and other government departments who are typically involved in biodiversity management issues to ensure that Parties are mainstreaming biodiversity into the work of other sectors. Included in this group are subnational governments and cities, which are increasingly carrying out biodiversity strategies and action plans.
Stakeholders and other members of the CBD core audience and constituency
33.While Parties are the primary focus of the CBD, there are a number of other actors and stakeholders who provide supportive roles to Parties, or also have a discrete role to play in implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity. Because these actors are not Parties, communications to them will have a different character. At the same time, when these actors carry out supportive activities at the national level, they may be included in certain communications.
34.United Nations system partners who are implicated in the work of the CBD, as well as other regional organizations, are also important. These actors will not only transmit the work of the Convention to others, but also will use the opportunity to promote their own work and its relevance to the sustainable development agenda as well as to the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020.
35.Natural history museums, botanical gardens, zoos and aquariums are other groups whose work is key to the Convention, both in terms of specific conservation actions and in raising awareness about biodiversity.
36.The IUCN is a unique organization also. Given its role in the creation of the Convention, and its central role in the conservation of nature, it is a key audience for the Convention, as well as an important multiplier.
37.Conservation NGOs are a core constituency that will retransmit the messages of the Convention.
Indigenous peoples and local communities
38.It is important to increase work with indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs) to communicate their role in the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, and to show how their activities contribute to the implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity and other biodiversity-related conventions. In this regard, communication should encourage indigenous peoples and local communities to promote their activities in the context of national implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020. But the work of indigenous peoples and local communities should also be seen as the source for original and inspiring messages and practices for the conservation of biodiversity and its sustainable use. In this regard, communication should seek to encourage indigenous peoples and local communities to celebrate, promote and communicate traditional knowledge related to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity at local, national, regional and global levels.
The public and important stakeholder groups
39.It is frequently said that the work of the Convention needs to be communicated in a way that makes it relevant to the “public.” While it is true that the audience for communication is a global one, and should encompass everyone, it is also clear that the notion that a single public to whom all messages could be directed is overly simplistic and hides some important differences between audience segments. The so-called “public” is in fact a number of different audience segments divided by country, gender, socioeconomic level and languages. Therefore any attempt to reach out to the public requires an appropriate approach.
40.The most important segmentation for the public remains at the national level. An understanding of biodiversity, environmental functions and ecosystem services and their relevance to the general public is very much shaped by national circumstances and national “narratives” about people and nature and how biodiversity provides values to them. Therefore, any attempt to engage the public needs to be crafted at the national level, based on an overarching narrative.
41.Important ways to reach the public are through consultations, awareness campaigns and the media – radio, television and print forms, in particular. In this way, the media should be seen as a multiplier and a channel, rather than an audience in itself. The media seeks to produce content that will reach the public, and therefore any work to engage the media should take this perspective. Media engagement should focus on a number of the segments of the media, including:
(a)Media that covers environmental policy;
(b)Media that covers consumer issues (lifestyles, livelihood and sustainability);
(c)Media that focuses on conservation;
(d)Media that is science based;
(e)Media that focuses on business and green skills;
(f)Media that focuses on dissemination to the wider public.
42.There are also particular stakeholder groups that require a focused engagement:
(a)Business is an extremely important segment. Communications should seek to engage business associations, encourage further development of the business case for biodiversity, and promote greater engagement with biodiversity-friendly businesses;
(b)Youth is a key audience as well. It can be reached via work through United Nations System-wide activities related to youth; by enhancing the Green Wave programme and other similar initiatives as tools for implementation of the Decade; through use of social media, including Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, YouTube and others; and via contests and competitions, including painting, photography, essay and others;
(c)As women are key stakeholders in both conservation and sustainable use of resources, special focus should be made in mainstreaming gender in all engagements.
Resource persons and institutions
43.This audience segment is the variety of communities of experts and institutions in different scientific and technical domains who generate and disseminate knowledge that supports the implementation of the Convention. Reaching out to these is important to ensure that the best available scientific knowledge is being generated and used in support of the CBD. Also, this community of experts commands a great deal of respect by the public and their messages can generate a great deal of support for the Convention. It is important to ensure that their messages are aligned. This group might overlap with the core CBD constituency in certain regards, but they have a distinctive identity.
E. - Resources
44.In carrying out communications activities, the following resources represent the basis for message creation. This list is not exhaustive, but these should be privileged above others.
Official national reports and strategies
45.The official communications of Parties in support of the CBD, and in response to decisions of the Conference of the Parties, are a key communications resource. These communications have official status and provide information on the state of implementation of the CBD at the national level, as well as communicating the intentions of Parties with regard to implementation. For all official national reports and strategies, actions and national targets should be expressed against the agreed upon indicators.
(a)NBSAPs. National biodiversity strategies and action plans represent the policy intentions of Parties. The reality is that only some of the NBSAPs created under the Convention process possess a strategic vision, and a plan of action. A number of them, particular those that were created years ago, may be simple reports on biodiversity at the national level. However, in those cases where the NBSAPs do contain a plan of action, these should be used to communicate action at the national level. Further, NBSAPs should also include a communications strategy. Where possible, the process for creating the NBSAP should also involve a communications and outreach strategy. Use should be made of communications mainstreaming and reporting tools, such as the online Aichi poster tool developed jointly between GIZ and the Secretariat;
(b)National reports. Much greater use should be made of the information in national reports, both by the Secretariat and by Parties themselves. The information can be used to demonstrate successes in implementation, as well as to identify areas where more work is needed. Efforts should also be made to recover structured data from the reports and use this.
Official documents of CBD
46.The official documents, including pre-session documents and meeting reports, express the policy direction of the CBD and therefore they represent an important resource, providing a narrative of the development of issues under the convention. Decisions of the Conference of the Parties are particularly important. Any communications necessarily need to flow from these, and it is important to ensure messages are consistent with them.
CBD publications and other resources
47.There are a number of technical resources and publications that provide scientific and technical advice related to the implementation of the Convention. The accuracy of these resources, derived from the peer-reviewed nature of the works, is the basis for their legitimacy in the minds of experts, as well as members of the public. Therefore, any messaging should deploy these resources to show the scientific underpinnings of the work of the Convention.
48.These resources, while all of a technical nature, are quite specific in their format, goals and languages. Therefore, all should be crafted with specific communities in mind and should have appropriate structures and narratives. There is not a single format. However, all should have specific metadata.
F. - Channels and multipliers
49.A variety of channels exist through which messages can be transmitted to audiences. In this section, we outline some of the channels, as well as some of the actors who can serve as multipliers for messages.
The clearing-house mechanism and its related information services
50.The clearing-house mechanism (CHM) represents both a channel and a multiplier. The CHM is meant to be a key element of the biodiversity knowledge network. According to paragraph 22 of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020, the CHM will be the channel through which the knowledge and expertise of a biodiversity community will be made available to facilitate and support enhanced implementation of the Convention. In the CHM, national clearing-house mechanism nodes, comprising networks of experts with effective websites, will be developed and sustained. These will be linked to the central clearing-house mechanism maintained by the Secretariat. The website of the CBD represents the central node in this network. Other elements exist for specialized audiences, such as the Biosafety Clearing-House and the Access and Benefit-sharing Clearing-House.
51.It is important to note that the CHM is understood as not only the website and portal of the CBD, but also the network of websites and information services maintained by the Parties.More work needs to be done to ensure that the information and messages are transmitted throughout the network.
52.The web strategy of the CBD, currently under development, should provide a platform that facilitates and supports the elements of this communications strategy. It should provide for the development of the infrastructure that can support communications with the different actors. The web strategy should also ensure that social media is integrated and incorporated with any web development. The emphasis for any web and software development should be on ways to ensure compatibility with other United Nations agencies and United Nations System web standards.
Social media and social networks
53.Social media refers to websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking. While social media applications vary across countries and regions, the most widespread platforms include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, and LinkedIn. In recent years, social media and social networking have become extremely important tools for facilitating collective action. Indeed, the greatest growth in outreach by the Secretariat in the last 24 months has been in the domain of social media.
54.Social media is an important element of any communication strategy, and a core set of social media messaging will be used by the Secretariat, which can then be retransmitted and adapted by other actors. The Secretariat will emit, each year, a plan for social media which will then be shared. In 2016, a notification was issued by the Executive Secretary, indicating that Parties should engage with the social media of the CBD Secretariat, including through their clearing-house mechanisms. While all actors can have independent social media strategies that serve their own distinctive communities, it is important for messaging on these platforms to be coordinated. Further, the strength of social media lies in the sharing of content across platforms and actors. Therefore, sharing content and reposting content from other actors is an important strategy.
55.Different social media platforms serve different purposes. Below are some indicative social media platforms:
(a)Facebook. The main platform should be the United Nations Decade on Biodiversity Facebook page, www.facebook.com/UNbiodiversity. All people involved with the CBD and the United Nations Decade on Biodiversity, should seek to link to this page. The audience of this page is varied – it includes scientific experts, as well as members of the public from around the world. For this reason, the content on this page includes not only information about the official processes of the CBD, but also more popular messages;
(b)Twitter. The Secretariat’s twitter feed is www.twitter.com/cbdnews Tweets on this page are generated by the Secretariat on the basis of events and happenings. The primary audience for this remains delegates and participants in the CBD processes, as well as those involved in other international negotiations. Partners should seek to retweet, wherever relevant, the content from this feed;
(c)Instagram. This platform is emerging as an important social media tool for youth. The platform uses images, with superimposed text, to share ideas and experiences. It is a visual rather than a textual medium. The Secretariat has been developing an audience for Instagram. Participants in this communication strategy can use this as a way to use imagery to share ideas;
(d)Snapchat is another important platform for youth. It allows the sharing of short videos and text which do not persist beyond several viewings. The content facilitates the sharing of immediate experiences, usually at an event or location;
(e)LinkedIn is a professional platform that is increasingly used for building communities of practice in settings where Facebook would seem too colloquial. It has a number of specialized professional and technical communities related to biodiversity. This tool can be used to facilitate communication between technical and scientific actors related to biodiversity policy.
Other partners and multipliers
56.In implementing this strategy, a number of organizations are important for its implementation. These organizations are not only message multipliers, but also they represent constituencies with something to gain from the implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity. The list includes, but is not limited to, the following:
(a)Biodiversity-related conventions. The biodiversity-related conventions have strategic plans that are similar, if not explicitly linked in certain instances, to the goals of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity. Messaging should be coordinated between these including for international days, such as World Wetlands Day, World Wildlife Day and others;
(b)The United Nations Department of Public Information (DPI) is an important way to link the work of the CBD and the biodiversity agenda with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and other activities. DPI also includes linkages to the United Nations Information Centres (UNICs) which can provide support to regional work on the Convention;
(c)United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and its Department of Communications and Public Information (DCPI) is an important multiplier of messages. The agenda of UNEP includes a substantial biodiversity component, and the communications reach of DCPI is global. The launch of reports of the CBD in the past, including Global Biodiversity Outlook, has benefited from the support and communications infrastructure of DCPI;
(d) The communications teams of the secretariats of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) (Rio Conventions) are important partners for communicating the synergy between implementation of the biodiversity, climate change and land degradation agendas. This includes through platforms such as the Rio Conventions Pavilion, and other joint communications activities;
(e)The Secretariat of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) is an important partner for communications work, given the role of GEF as financial mechanism for the Convention;
(f)The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is a key partner for this communications strategy, as the work of the IUCN has been instrumental in the development of the CBD. In addition to messages emerging from the IUCN secretariat, there is important work being done by its voluntary commissions, most notably:
(i)The Commission on Education and Communication of IUCN (CEC). The CEC, in collaboration with the World Commission on Protected Areas (listed below) has launched the initiative #NatureForAll, which was developed in the wake of the International Year for Biodiversity, and the campaigns of “Love not Loss,” and “Inspiring a New Generation.” The campaign represents an important vehicle which can transmit messages about engagement with biodiversity and nature. The CEC is an important partner for implementation of Aichi Biodiversity Target 1;
(ii)The World Commission on Protected Areas. The WCPA is a partner for the #NatureForAll initiative, but it is, above all else, a commission that works to ensure the implementation of Aichi Biodiversity Target 11 under the CBD. The messaging from the WCPA therefore needs to encourage achievement of the targets for protected areas, but it also needs to work on messaging that demonstrates how achievement of this goal provides support for a variety of other sustainable development goals;
(iii)Species Survival Commission. The IUCN red list is an important communications tool to show the status of Aichi Biodiversity Target 12;
(g)UNESCO is a key partner not only for biodiversity science, but also for its work on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). For this reason, its work can strongly amplify the messages and communication to education communities that work in formal and informal education;
(h)Zoos and aquariums are an important multiplier given their global reach through hundreds of millions of visitors annually to their facilities. The World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) has carried out a very successful campaign in the past to promote biodiversity awareness, and additional campaigns such as this would make a huge difference;
(i)Botanical gardens and natural history museums have a role similar to that of zoos and aquariums. Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) has organized a large campaign in support of biodiversity and the United Nations Decade on Biodiversity, and further work with them is to be considered;
(j)World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is a central partner for the United Nations Decade on Biodiversity as a member of key task forces and the Informal Advisory Committee for CEPA. Their communications vehicles, including the Living Planet Index, the Earth Hour and other projects, are powerful vehicles to multiply and push messages to a greater public;
(k)The media and its relationship to reaching the public is mentioned in other parts of this document, but should also be looked at as a multiplier here. Strategic partnerships with selected media organizations can provide important leverage and multiplication effects;
(l)United Nations Ambassadors and other celebrity spokespersons are an important multiplier as well.
Events
57.Events represent important communications opportunities, where messages can be disseminated to a variety of audiences, in a setting which is usually media-rich and of interest to a variety of communities. Large international conferences about the biodiversity agenda have typically been the main focus of communications to date. These remain important opportunities to carry out the agenda, but they are not the only opportunities. Some of the meetings include the following:
(a)Meetings of the Conference of the Parties to the CBD;
(b)Meetings of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC and the UNCCD;
(c)Meetings of the Conference of the Parties to the other biodiversity-related conventions;
(d)The annual sessions of the United Nations General Assembly;
(e)Meetings of the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
58.At each of these meetings, opportunities should be taken to communicate the goals of this communications strategy and to demonstrate linkages.
59.National events that may be related to the biodiversity agenda, but distinct from it, represent important communications opportunities as well. National cultural celebrations or celebrations of independence should also be used to show the linkage of biodiversity with national identity.
60.United Nations and other important international days also represent important events during which the work of the Convention can be noted and celebrated. For these international days, messaging should be aligned in a way that shows how implementation of the Convention can contribute to the goals for each day. Some of the most important days to consider include the following: World Wetlands Day, World Wildlife Day, World Water Day, Oceans Day, Earth Day, Mother Earth Day, World Environment Day, World Day to Combat Desertification, and World Food Day.
61.The International Day for Biological Diversity, on 22 May of each year, should also be an extremely important event for implementation of any communications. Guided by the theme determined by the Executive Secretary, national-level actors should use the day as an opportunity to articulate national visions and responses.
G. - Key roles and actions
62.In the light of all the elements outlined above, the following activities and roles are envisaged in order to implement the strategy. The roles outlined below are indicative, and should be adjusted based on new information.
63.CBD Secretariat. The Executive Secretary and the staff of the secretariat will play a role in establishing the framework for communications, keeping the status of communications under review, and seeking to coordinate and advise other actors. In addition to this, the Secretariat will provide umbrella messaging with a focus on the main goals outlined in this strategy, and will provide support to Parties and other stakeholders for implementation of the plan in the form of coordination through established communication task forces, including, inter alia, the regional information officers of UNEP, the United Nations Department of Public Information (DPI) communication task forces, and the BLG communications task force. Some key opportunities for increased efforts are noted below.
64.United Nations agencies. A variety of United Nations actors play a key role in implementing the strategy, not only in seeking to link their messaging with the global biodiversity agenda, but also in identifying ways that the biodiversity agenda can provide messages and content for their activities. Further efforts should be made to carry out coordinated campaigns on communication for biodiversity, for instance:
(a)United Nations Secretary-General: raise the profile of the United Nations Decade on Biodiversity and biodiversity, as requested in General Assembly resolution 65/161, throughout the United Nations system;
(b)Department of Public Information (DPI): provide messaging support for biodiversity relevant activities related to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and other activities including providing linkages to United Nations Information Centres (UNICs) around the world;
(c)UNESCO: provide support by incorporating biodiversity in its work on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), its biodiversity work in the science sector, and communications support;
(d)UNEP: provide support by mobilizing its Department of Communications and Public Information (DCPI) and its network of regional information officers (RIOs) to support biodiversity communication. Coordinate on communication for the 10-Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns (10YFP); find ways to use World Environment Day to highlight biodiversity issues;
(e)UNDP: communicate the ways that biodiversity is integrated into country-level work;
(f)UNWTO: coordinate to deliver messaging on sustainable tourism;
(g)FAO: coordinate its messaging with the United Nations Decade on Biodiversity as appropriate.
65.Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity will be the primary means for communicating national versions of the global messaging. They will therefore:
(a)Customize messages to suit national circumstances and national audiences;
(b)Organize events and activities that support this communications strategy;
(c)Show the national state of implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity;
(d)Provide resources for global communications campaigns;
(e)Track public awareness levels regarding biodiversity and its values;
(f)Build bridges in communication with other “non-biodiversity” ministries, including incorporating and including other ministries in NBSAP activities.
66.International NGOs. NGOs that do work in the fields of nature conservation, sustainable development and other environmental work are key partners. They will seek to communicate the relevance of their work in achieving the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and to leverage their communications work in support of the Strategic Plan.
67.Indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs). Indigenous peoples and local communities are a key group for the Convention as custodians of traditional knowledge related to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. Their role is to demonstrate:
(a)Contributions of traditional knowledge to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity at the national and global level;
(b)Contribution to the implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020.
68.National civil society organizations. These groups have a role to play in national implementation of the Convention and also at the international level. They should demonstrate support for the work of the Convention, and should seek to build support among the public.
69.Natural history museums, zoos and aquariums, botanical gardens. These groups should continue to develop their communications work, including any behaviour change activities;
70.Youth will communicate their role in biodiversity conservation and sustainable use, including through youth organizations.
71.Business will communicate the ways in which they are conserving and sustainably using biodiversity, including through new business cases and sustainability initiatives in support of biodiversity.
72.Other organizations and actors can be added to this as they are identified and become engaged with the biodiversity agenda.